Team 7 (Earth-1938)
Origin For years, the American government had been aware of strange events. People with unexplainable abilities, evidence of magic, reports of monsters. The government had even confirmed some of these and discretely used some of these means staring during World War II. Still, The U.S. government was hesitant to go any further than the occasional group of powered individuals and some research on these topics. They were rare enough that the government thought it was prepared for anything involving them. This all changed in 1969. Serval "Mystery-Men", with superpowers, debuted, revealing to the general public the side of the world their government had been trying to hide. Worried about the influx of superpowered individuals, the American government began trying to find ways to create their own superpowered soldiers. They spent years researching and experimenting with so-called "Metahuman" criminals. In 1972, the government finally found a surem that held true potential. They decided to choose seven test subjects in case the surem had dire consequences. The government chose soldiers that been seen as superb during the recent Vietnam war. These seven soldiers were Slade Wilson, Cole Cash, Joan Dale, Alex Petrakis, Lucas Trent, Martiza Blackbird, and Michael Cray. The results of this experiment were mixed, to say the least. Cash and Cray didn't appear to develop any powers at all. As such, they were let go and were not told the full details of the project. Dale and Petrakis became very powerful Metahumans with few side-effects. The others weren't as lucky. Wilson's body nearly destroyed itself, causing him to be bedridden for years. Trent and Blackbird got powers but, started to experience sudden mood-swings and extreme paranoia. The government kept all subjects that developed powers imprisoned to study them further. The government was going to wait until they completely perfected the formula. However, the invasion of Earth by the alien warlord Steppenwolf and the subsequent Worlds War changed all that. Thunderbook Steppenwolf's forces were devasting to Earth as regular soldiers just couldn't compare with the horrifying Parademons grunts of Steppenwolf's army. Desperate, the U.S. government decided to restart the artificial metahuman experiments again. However, they knew giving thousands of people something that could turn them into mentally unstable, super-powered killing machines was not a good idea. So, they only choose six test subjects. Under the supervision of General Wade Eiling, Project:Thunderbook. These six were John Lynch, Alexandra Fairchild, Gloria Spaulding, Stephen Rainmaker, Henry I. King and Andrew Kwok. The experiments were successful and all test subjects recieved powers. In order to give the newly named "Team 7", an experienced and stable team leader, they choose Marc Slayton. Slayton was one of the first superpowered soldiers the U.S. army ever had. Now fully formed, Team 7 went on covert missions for the government. Their missions were often intense and bloody. It took a toll on the member's mental health. After a mission where Team 7 was forced to blow up a prison camp full of civilians, Andrew Kowk nearly had a full breakdown. In order to keep him in the World Army, the government gave him a new code and legal name(James Chang, Bullet-Man) and sent him in the All-Star Squadron. They replaced him with a German Metahuman named Jakita Wagner. Team 7 continued their missions, even the ones that were morally questionable. One notable event was when the World Army sub-team, the Freedom Fighters, learned of the Metahumans being kept against their will by the government. Team 7 fought the Freedom Fighters when the latter tried to free the imprisoned metahumans. While a deal was stuck with the Freedom Fighters to release the Metahumans, this event made the government try even harder to keep the existence of Team 7 a secret. Even during the final battle of the Worlds War, Team 7 fought secretly. They used their powers without making obvious to other soldiers. In the end, Earth won the war. However, America wasn't ready to let go Team 7 go just yet. Under the newly formed International Operations, the team delt with extreme metahuman or alien threats. While this went well for around ten years, the side-effects of the surem was starting to catch up with Team 7. Disbandment Slowly, most members of Team 7 began experiencing paranoia, aggression, and mood swings. Henry King codenamed "Brainwave", had it the worst due to his telepathic powers. When he learned that I.O. was considering "decommissioning" Team 7, King assumed that meant killing them. King took control of a city block and deemed himself "Despot". It took all of Team 7 and reunion of some Justice Society members to take him down. I.O. covered it up by saying King was just an insane metahuman. Team 7 was disbanded with Wagner being out-right fired. With the writing on the wall, the metahumans of Team 7 left and went into hiding. I.O. hunted them down and imprisoned them. When they learned that I.O. was going kidnap their children to turn them into soldiers, they all decided to do one last stand. The metahumans used a brief blackout to try to escape. It took nearly a day to stop them from escaping. In the end, all but, John Lynch had perished. However, Lynch played dead long enough to get out of the facility. Lynch investigated I.O. and discovered they were using a fake college program to test the children of Team 7 members for the meta-gene. He found they had already taken serval of the children into custody. Lynch went to where the kids were being held and helped them escape. Lynch now mentors the children and keeps them out of I.O.'s clutches. Aftermath -Slade Wilson, Cole Cash, and Michael Cray all developed powers over time. Wilson became the feared meracany Deathstroke, Cash joined the WildC.A.T.S. as Grifer to protect humanity from an alien war and Cray stayed at International Operations as an assassin. Martiza Blackbird also joined I.O. as the leader of the special "Wetworks" task-force. -Joan Dale became the superheroine Miss America, joined the Freedom Fighters and briefly the Justice Society. Alex Petrakis and Lucas Trent renamed themselves Apollo and Midnighter respectively. They joined the Authority, a group they claim they keep the governments of the world "in check". -Marc Slayton works as Backlash for the U.N. metahuman team Stormwatch. Ironically, he now workds under the daughter of his former teammate, Brainwave's daughter, Jackie "Gimmix" King. Jakita Wagner joined the "mystery-archology and protector" company, Planetary. Kowk got married to the superheroine Sabeen "Bullet-Girl" Khoury. He avoided being kidnapped by I.O. although he lives in constant fear. -Children of experimental metahumans that are "Gen-Active" include Joey and Rose Wilson, Jacqueline and Malcolm King, Caitlin Fairchild, Bobby Lane, Sarah Rainmaker, Deanna and Eddie Chang, Roxie Spaulding, Matt and Nicole Callahan, Rachel Goldman and Leon Carver. -I.O. recently launched a similar Team 7 program in the "DV8" project.Category:Created by MaysileeAurlis Category:Earth-1938 Category:Earth-1938 Teams Category:World Army (Earth-1938)